BOCA RATON, Fla. — Jeff Luhnow left the general managers’ meetings midday Wednesday with a sense that a move may well come before the winter meetings in December, which is when the Astros first made a …

Trading for a free agent to-be midseason can be looked at as a recruiting trip. The player gets to know the staff and vice versa, and the groundwork is laid for a long term relationship. It’s a leg up others contending for that player’s services don’t have — and in the case of free agent Scott Kazmir, bringing him to Houston early and giving him a taste of what Astros would be like could be looked at as part of the value the Astros got when they traded for him in July. …

BOCA RATON, Fla. — They want Ground Control to avoid lift off in the future. Commissioner Rob Manfred spoke to general managers on Tuesday morning about the protection of intellectual property and the …